“I—”—an explosion rocked the Arena, sending huge, jagged pieces of rock flying in all directions. I hit the dirt and covered my head, hoping to hell one of those things didn’t hit me. Another explosion ripped through the drydock. It was so powerful, it made my ears pop and shook my chest. I thought the drydock was being bombed!
Someone picked me up by my arm and lifted me off the ground. It was Mercutio. He had Romeo thrown over his large shoulders like a rag doll, and it looked like he was getting ready to carry me out of the Arena, too.
“I’m fine,” I said, shrugging out of his hold. I hadn’t meant to sound ungrateful, but the sky was literally falling.
Looking up, I saw two great big holes had opened up along one of the longest walls, some of the stone and glass was still crumbling and falling to the floor. The night spilled in through the damaged sections of the walls, but that wasn’t all. Draven was there, his massive black wings beating against the stark blackness behind him.
We could see him only because he wanted us to, and with good reason; he’d brought backup. He gestured with his hands, and at his command, large half-broken sections of the wall collapsed into themselves and crumbled. As the wall fell in on itself, Aaryn came blazing in behind him like a meteorite—her hands wreathed in fire.
Aaryn swooped into the Arena and breathed fire from her hands, scorching the ground like she was armed with flamethrowers. Fires sprouted all around me, the smoke instantly becoming thick and difficult to breathe. It was time to go.
“This way!” I yelled to Mercutio, who followed me through a gap in a tall stack of metal crates. I helped Mercutio make it through to the other side first, then made a mad run for the metal door we’d come in through only to find it blocked out by the stampede of supernaturals trying to flee the burning Arena.
“Fuck!” Mercutio cursed, “There has to be another way out.”
“There’s no way out,” ginger guy called out, “And I want my challenge!”
I spun around and found him standing there, his body glistening with sweat, his muscles easily twice as bulky and hairy as they’d been a moment ago. Ruddy brown fur was starting to grow all over his body, covering his forearms, his pecs, his sides, and of course, his face. He still looked mostly human, but a human that hadn’t shaved in ten years and was easily twice my size.
I didn’t know if I had another fight in me, but I gripped my dagger and grit my teeth. “You want your challenge?” I called out, “Come and get it.”
Grinning like a hungry wolf about to rip up a piece of meat with his teeth, he charged at me, his mouth open and his fingers splayed. His fingernails had turned to wickedly sharp claws that looked like they could easily rip whole gashes in my skin. I wasn’t about to let him do that.
“Get Romeo out of here,” I said to Mercutio.
“What about you?” he called out above the noise.
“Just go!”
Deciding to face the wolf head on, I charged at him, roaring in the same way he was. I could see the desire to murder me behind his eyes. It was a kind of hungry, predatory ferocity he had that I knew was going to be more than I could handle, but right now my priorities had changed. I wanted to make sure Romeo got out, that he was safe, even if it meant giving myself up for it.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The werewolf leapt into the air, and I leapt to meet him, my knife ready in my hand, my wings of light glowing at my back. An invisible sledgehammer suddenly slammed into the werewolf’s side, sending him crashing into, and through, the drydock’s outer wall. Bits of rock and concrete went flying, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Draven swooped in ahead of me just as I landed and ducked through the hole the werewolf had made, effortlessly slipping through despite his large wingspan.
“Hey!” I yelled after him, “That was my fight!”
I sped after Draven, vaulting through the hole and out into the cold night. Already Draven had the werewolf where he wanted him, on the defensive, dodging and blocking Draven’s sword attacks. Even though the werewolf didn’t have anything to block the attacks with, only its massive fleshy forearms. Looked to me like they were made of metal, though, because they were blocking the hell out of those sword swings.
They were fighting for a few seconds before I managed to join the fray, swiping at the werewolf where I could and dodging those nasty claws. But with every second that passed, the werewolf looked like he was getting bigger, faster, and way hairier. I looked up at it, searching for its jugular, but now instead of a hairy human face looking back at me, it was a huge wolf’s head with impossibly large teeth and glowing green eyes.
The seven-foot monster didn’t show any signs of slowing down or getting tired. It looked like with every hit it took, it gained a little more momentum—a little more speed. Draven was all lightning moves and dark wings, his feet never touching the ground, his sword always finding its mark. He could’ve just taken off, and the werewolf would’ve never caught him, but now I was here too, and he had to fight this hairy, ginger killing machine.
It didn’t speak, it didn’t taunt. Instead, it moved with deadly swiftness and precision, making me work harder than I’d ever worked to stay out of the path of death. I managed to sink my knife into its leg, but I doubted if it had even felt the knife go in. The beast didn’t yelp, didn’t even recognize I’d hit it—it was focused entirely on Draven, swiping at him from the ground, leaping into the air and trying to grab his wings.
Fire suddenly erupted all around us. A huge wall of flame went up between the werewolf and me, forcing me away from it. Draven took to the air, and then the werewolf was alone, and surrounded by flames. Aaryn maintained a high enough altitude that the werewolf wouldn’t be able to reach her if it jumped. Her eyes lit up bright orange, and fire spilled out of her hands like dragon’s breath.
The werewolf shielded its face with its forearm as the flames washed over its body. It roared, I could smell burned fur and singed flesh, but the beast didn’t fall. Instead, it leapt out of the flames and went running across the dockyard. I watched it flee, its fur aflame, until it jumped over the wall and disappeared into the night, howling at the half-moon hanging above us.
“Perfect timing,” Draven said.
“Almost perfect,” Aaryn replied, her eyes returning to normal.
I placed a hand on my hip. “Again, that was my fight,” I called up.
“Sorry I spared you from having to fight it,” Draven said, “Where’s Romeo?”
“With Mercutio. I’m gonna go find them.”
“You go, we’re not done here yet but I won’t be far behind you.”
“Not done here yet? What are you going to do?” And where did you learn that kind of magic? I left the question unasked. It was better that way.
“We’re going to burn this place to the ground,” Aaryn said, before shooting off like a dart. Draven, wordlessly, followed her, though not before giving me a long, hard look. The kind that said be careful. The sentiment wasn’t lost on me, even if it had come from Draven—the most notoriously difficult man to read on either side of the rifts.
Nodding, I started running away from the drydock building, heading for the gate I’d come through in the first place. I used my magic to try and keep a low profile as I moved between what was left of the crowd trying to escape the burning wreckage of the Arena. I only realized after I’d moved through the gates and all the other people had cleared that I hadn’t asked Mercutio to meet me anywhere in particular.
I checked the nook we’d hidden in before we stormed the gate, but he wasn’t there. The only other place I could think of was the studio, so I headed out, taking care to keep my invisibility spell up until I thought I was safe. Humans wouldn’t notice me no matter what, but it was everything else I needed to keep hidden from.
The studio was dark when I arrived, the front door closed and locked. I tried around back, and found it unlocked. I let myself inside, careful to check around behind me, making sure I hadn’t been followed.
As far as I knew, I hadn’t been. The coast was clear.
Once inside, I shut the door and called out. “Mercutio?”
“In here,” came his voice, floating out from one of the open doors.
I walked over to it, turned inside, and there was Romeo lying on a sofa, looking like total “Shit…” I said, trailing off. It was worse in the light. The fluorescent lights hanging overhead emphasized the purple of the bruises on his skin, and the reds where the skin had split. He didn’t just look beaten up, he looked crippled.
Mercutio had a wet towel in his hand and a bucket on the floor. The bucket was filled with water and ice, but it was already starting to turn red. Gently, Mercutio applied the wet towel to the worst parts around Romeo’s face. Romeo would flinch from time to time, then he would take a swig of the bottle of whiskey in his hand to help numb the pain.
“Are you…?” I asked, but the rest of the sentence didn’t form on my lips.
“Alive?” he croaked, “Yeah… barely.”
“What the hell… what did they do to you?”
He shook his head, winced from the pain of moving, then drank. “I wish I could tell you…”
“He doesn’t remember much,” Mercutio put in, “As far as I can tell, it’s like his consciousness has been suppressed for as long as he’s been gone.”
“What do you remember?” I asked.
It looked like the simple act of staying awake required great effort on his part, but he pushed through like a soldier. “I got jumped,” he said, “Best I can remember, I was on my way home from busting a track down here and someone came at me. I know I tried to fight him off, but fuck man, he was powerful. I’d never seen anything like it.”
“Did you see who it was? Was it Darkshard?”
“Sure as hell was that prick Darkshard. Someone else, too. Some grey haired, dude.”
Valoel. “Do you have any idea where he is now? The grey haired guy…”
“No. I can’t remember shit after that night. It’s like I’ve been in a coma. Last thing I remember is getting hit with magic, and now I’m here, beat up as shit. Guess I should thank you for saving my life…”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to. Means a lot that you got me out.”
“I tried to find you, Romeo,” Mercutio said, “Tried every damn spell in the book when everything else failed. They had a strong wall of magic up around you, one I couldn’t get past.”
“Should’ve studied harder at Dark Willow instead of spending your time trying to get with that chick,” Romeo forced a grin. “We should’ve called you Romeo.”
“Mercutio all the way.”
“I’m glad you’re okay, Romeo. I don’t know if you stuck around to see it, but the Arena’s gone. We tore it down.”
Romeo smiled faintly. “That’s good… but you can’t get rid of the Arena like that. It’ll come up again soon enough, don’t you worry about that. It’s just a fact of life out here.”
“This should disrupt things a little, at least. Help some people recover. But some other asshole will take Darkshard’s place and start another one. We’ll just be on the lookout for it, and shut it down when it rears its head again.”
“If you need help from the Order, just give me a call.” I swallowed. “I know I probably shouldn’t be asking for anything given your condition…”
“You kidding? You saved my life. You need something?”
“Yeah… I need more of that memory trip powder you gave me. Do you have any?”
“Shit, not on me, but I can get you some.”
“Are you sure? You look really banged up.”
“I’ll bounce back. Take a load off for now, Mercutio’s gonna patch me up, then I’ll get you what you need. You planning on deep diving into your mind again? That shit can make you really trip if you do too much of it.”
“Believe me, I’m way past tripping. And what you gave me really helped clear up all the amnesia… I don’t know if it’ll work with all of us, but I know my Order—fuck, my whole kind would owe you big time if you were able to make more of it for them.”
Romeo breathed in deep, but that seemed to hurt. He grimaced, then coughed. “Shit… I’m not used to making bulk batches, but I figure I owe you a big one, so, I’ll do my best.”
I walked over to the other couch and sat down. It felt good to sit after all that had happened, but I couldn’t relax, not while the incantation was so near I could almost reach out and grab it. Lucky for me, Mercutio was a pretty decent healer. The process took about an hour, and I saw more glowing sigils and flashing lights in that hour than I had in all the time I’d known Bastet…
Bastet.
If I wasn’t thinking about the incantation, I was thinking about her and what Darkshard had said. She knew more than she was telling me. What the hell did that mean? Knew more about what? Why’d he have to be so damn vague? I had no idea what he was talking about, not a clue as to where to start asking questions, or even what questions to ask.
If what he’d wanted had been to sow the seeds of distrust between me and Bastet, then to a point he’d succeeded. But only because I was a paranoid creature by nature. Living on the streets of New York for a few years at a time tends to do that to a person. You learn to always look over your shoulder and never take anything at face value, because you never know who’s waiting behind the garbage dump or around the next corner.
I had to speak to Bastet, I had to know what Darkshard meant. I also had to be careful about how I approached it. Bastet had been… so important to me. So important to this whole thing. I didn’t think I’d have gotten nearly as far as I had without her, so I didn’t have a reason to believe she was anything other than an ally.
Still, Darkshard’s words haunted me, and that already wasn’t a good sign.
I headed outside to find Draven waiting for me around back. He’d been standing under a makeshift porch to keep out of the rain that had started to fall. “Everything okay in there?” he asked.
“Romeo’s alive, and he’s gonna make a recovery,” I said. I showed him the bag with the powder in it. “Also, he gave me this.”
“Do you think that’ll be enough to unlock the right memory?”
I shrugged. “I hope so. If it doesn’t… I don’t know what we’re gonna do.”
“We’ll figure that out when we get to that point. You did great tonight, by the way… I was impressed.”
I grinned at him. “You weren’t so bad yourself. Where’d you learn that kind of telekinesis?”
“You aren’t the only one with secret powers no one else knows about.” He pulled a teleportation orb out of his pocket. “Are you ready?”
Ready to unlock my memories? Yeah. Ready for what came after… I wasn’t sure.
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Draven and I portal-orbed directly into his bedroom, something I wasn’t exactly ready for. He hadn’t told me that was where we were going, but I guessed it made sense we bypass any potential distractions at the fortress. Both of us understood just how important it was I regain as many of my memories as fast as possible.
I just hadn’t expected I’d be coming back to his bedroom so soon after the last time. Certainly not with him.
Draven walked over to a hook on a wall and hung his sword and sheath. After a silent pause, he turned to look at me, his dark eyes settling on mine like black holes about to pull me in. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Alright?”
“From tonight… are you hurt?”
“Not more than usual. I’ll be fine.” In my hand I had a little bag of that powder Romeo had become famous for. I fidgeted with it while we spoke. “Aren’t you gonna chew me out for not waiting for you?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I may have done the same. You didn’t know where I was.”
“Right… where were you?”
“Evading a mage. I hadn’t been spotte
d, not entirely, but a mage had flown a little close to me and caught a whiff of something. I tried to shake him in the air, but he was like a bloodhound. By the time I’d lost him, you were already gone.”
“Wait, a mage? In the air?”
“Some of them can fly, I guess. Anyway, that’s old news, now.”
“I’m not upset about how things worked out. We saved Romeo, we have this, and the Arena has been torn down. All in all, I’d say we had a pretty good night.”
“That remains to be seen. We have no idea how tonight’s events will impact New York as a whole.”
“I guess not, but disrupting a fight club where supernaturals are kidnapped and forced into taking licks for the audience’s viewing pleasure is hardly doing a disservice to the community.”
Draven nodded. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
I took a deep breath and looked at the bag of powder in my hands. “I don’t know what this is going to do to me,” I said. “The last time I took it, I tripped out like I was on acid.”
“Do you think it will work?”
Looking up at him. “I don’t know… I really want to say yes, but with stuff like this… it’s unpredictable. I need to find that incantation. I know it’s in my head somewhere. I also know we’re running out of time.”
“We shouldn’t waste any, then.” Draven moved over to his bed and pulled the covers down. “Get in.”
“What, here?”
“Where else?”
I couldn’t come up with a quick enough excuse, a real reason as to why I didn’t want to get into his bed. It wasn’t that I couldn’t outright say no. I knew I could. He wasn’t about to force me into his bed and I wasn’t about to let him. But because if I’d said no on the basis that I didn’t want to, it would’ve been a lie.
Draven’s bed looked comfortable as hell. The blanket looked warm and thick, like it could keep the cold out in the middle of a blizzard, even if that was all you had to wrap yourself with. Not to mention the fact that it was Draven’s bed…
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